Forgot iLok at home?

Posted by Michael Venia on June 01, 2019

As I was preparing to get on a flight to Tahiti, I kept telling myself to remember to pack my iLok so I can run Pro Tools and still work on the go. Sure enough, I forgot the iLok at home. I was only planning to take it as a backup plan because I remember transferring the Pro Tools subscription key to iLok Cloud. If you haven’t heard of iLok Cloud, it’s worth looking into! iLok Cloud is a way for you to activate licenses through the iLok license manager and does not require the iLok USB stick! Want to activate your license on iLok Cloud? Go here!﻿

So, I get to my secluded island, Le Taha’a in French Polynesia and I don’t have my iLok USB stick. I reach out to Avid Customer Support by phone and got to speak with a representative to explain my issue. I asked that they escalate the ticket, if possible. A few hours later, I received an email from a Technical representative who said I could not activate a Pro Tools license on my laptop and could only do this through an iLok key or the iLok Cloud. I wrote back immediately and asked if I could remove the license from my lonely iLok at home and activate it on the iLok Cloud system. Apparently, this cannot be done either. Instead, Avid support provided me with a temporary “rental” license for two weeks straight to my iLok Cloud account. I did not know this was possible so I wanted to share it with you all.

If you ever need to activate a license to your iLok cloud account in the situation where you left your iLok somewhere, reach out to the company that provides the license as they can provide a temporary solution for you just like how Avid did with me. Most of my other licenses are already on iLok cloud, so I am able to work on sessions I started back at home. Another good option is to move all your compatible licenses over to iLok cloud right away!